The Role of Cronyism in Arab Capitalism

2019 ◽  
pp. 39-64
Author(s):  
Steffen Hertog
Keyword(s):  
Labor Markets ◽  
Developing World ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Scarce Resources ◽  
State Involvement ◽  
Deep State ◽  
Political Economies ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Cross Country

This chapter argues that cronyism is a key component of a broader system of insider–outsider divisions in Arab political economies that also extends to labor markets. While economic dualism and insider privileges exist all over the developing world, the division is particularly deep and rigid in Arab countries. It results from a legacy of deep state involvement in the Arab economies under which states’ ambitions have increasingly outstripped their resources. Scarce resources have led to a de facto restriction of material privileges to insider groups, abetted by a legacy of deep bureaucratic intervention that lends itself to the creation of regulatory rents. Insider protection results in low levels of cooperation and trust between state, business, and workers, and creates an equilibrium of low skills and low productivity that hampers private-driven growth in the region. This argument is developed mostly on the basis of descriptive, cross-country data.

Education Attainment and Feminization of Labor Markets in Arab Countries with Comparisons to Eastern and Central European Countries

2014 ◽  
pp. 292-311
Author(s):  
Fatima-Zohra Filali Adib ◽  
Amale Achehboune
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
Labor Markets ◽  
Growth And Development ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Education Attainment ◽  
Central European ◽  
Developed Economies ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
Development Processes

The feminization of labor markets through the role of education is among the means that enhance the participation of women to development and ensure further involvement of human resources in the growth and development processes. While this is a process that is highly pursued in most developed economies, it is not clearly seen to be pervasive in most developing countries. The Arab economies are among those countries where lower participation of women is observed but where education can be an important leverage for further feminization of labor markets. These issues are discussed in the present chapter to underline the role of education in Arab economies.

Education Attainment and Feminization of Labor Markets in Arab Countries with Comparisons to Eastern and Central European Countries

2015 ◽  
pp. 163-181
Author(s):  
Fatima-Zohra Filali Adib ◽  
Amale Achehboune
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
Labor Markets ◽  
Growth And Development ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Education Attainment ◽  
Central European ◽  
Developed Economies ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
Development Processes

The feminization of labor markets through the role of education is among the means that enhance the participation of women to development and ensure further involvement of human resources in the growth and development processes. While this is a process that is highly pursued in most developed economies, it is not clearly seen to be pervasive in most developing countries. The Arab economies are among those countries where lower participation of women is observed but where education can be an important leverage for further feminization of labor markets. These issues are discussed in the present chapter to underline the role of education in Arab economies.

scholarly journals The Neuroscience of the Flow State: Involvement of the Locus Coeruleus Norepinephrine System

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitri van der Linden ◽  
Mattie Tops ◽  
Arnold B. Bakker
Keyword(s):  
Locus Coeruleus ◽  
Human Performance ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Task Engagement ◽  
Flow State ◽  
State Involvement ◽  
Norepinephrine System ◽  
System Task ◽  
Low Levels

Flow is a state of full task engagement that is accompanied with low-levels of self-referential thinking. Flow is considered highly relevant for human performance and well-being and has, therefore, been studied extensively. Yet, the neurocognitive processes of flow remain largely unclear. In the present mini-review we focus on how the brain's locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system may be involved in a range of behavioral and subjective manifestations of flow. The LC-NE system regulates decisions regarding task engagement vs. disengagement. This is done via different modes of baseline and stimulus-evoked norepinephrine release. We emphasize the theoretical and empirical overlap between the LC-NE system and flow. For both, a match between a person's skill and task challenge is important in order to induce high levels task-related attention. Moreover, psychophysiological indicators of LC-NE system activity, such as eye pupil diameter and arousal are also sensitive to flow states. Flow is related to arousal in an inverted U-shape. Similarly, in theories on the LC-NE system, task engagement is highest with intermediate levels of arousal. We argue that knowledge about the role of the LC-NE system in establishing the flow experience may help to gain fundamental knowledge of flow and can contribute to unifying various empirical findings on this topic.

scholarly journals Do Remittances Enhance Financial Inclusion in LMICs and in Fragile States?

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (66) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sami Ben Naceur ◽  
Ralph Chami ◽  
Mohamed Trabelsi
Keyword(s):  
Household Consumption ◽  
Financial Inclusion ◽  
Fragile States ◽  
Dynamic Panel ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Remittance Flows ◽  
The Relationship

This paper explores the relationship between remittances and financial inclusion for a sample of 187 countries over the period 2004-2015, using cross-country as well as dynamic panel GMM regressions. At low levels of remittances-to-GDP, these flows act as a substitute to formal financial channels, thereby reducing financial inclusion. In contrast, when remittance-to-GDP ratio is high, above 13% on average, they tend to complement formal access and usage channels, thus enhancing financial inclusion. This “U shaped” relationship highlights the role of remittance flows in financing household consumption at low levels, while raising formal household bank savings and allowing for more intermediation, at high levels of remittance-to-GDP.

Social Motives Predict Loneliness During a Developmental Transition

2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Nikitin ◽  
Alexandra M. Freund
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Avoidance ◽  
Social Approach ◽  
Social Motives ◽  
Developmental Transitions ◽  
Avoidance Motivation ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Low Levels

Abstract. Establishing new social relationships is important for mastering developmental transitions in young adulthood. In a 2-year longitudinal study with four measurement occasions (T1: n = 245, T2: n = 96, T3: n = 103, T4: n = 85), we investigated the role of social motives in college students’ mastery of the transition of moving out of the parental home, using loneliness as an indicator of poor adjustment to the transition. Students with strong social approach motivation reported stable and low levels of loneliness. In contrast, students with strong social avoidance motivation reported high levels of loneliness. However, this effect dissipated relatively quickly as most of the young adults adapted to the transition over a period of several weeks. The present study also provides evidence for an interaction between social approach and social avoidance motives: Social approach motives buffered the negative effect on social well-being of social avoidance motives. These results illustrate the importance of social approach and social avoidance motives and their interplay during developmental transitions.

Social and Temporal Comparisons as Moderators of Psychological Resources Associations With Wellbeing

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 96-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hasida Ben-Zur
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Positive Affect ◽  
Subjective Wellbeing ◽  
Social Comparisons ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Psychological Resources ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Age Range ◽  
General Wellbeing

Abstract. The current study investigated the associations of psychological resources, social comparisons, and temporal comparisons with general wellbeing. The sample included 142 community participants (47.9% men; age range 23–83 years), who compared themselves with others, and with their younger selves, on eight dimensions (e.g., physical health, resilience). They also completed questionnaires assessing psychological resources of mastery and self-esteem, and three components of subjective wellbeing: life satisfaction and negative and positive affect. The main results showed that high levels of psychological resources contributed to wellbeing, with self-enhancing social and temporal comparisons moderating the effects of resources on certain wellbeing components. Specifically, under low levels of mastery or self-esteem self-enhancing social or temporal comparisons were related to either higher life satisfaction or positive affect. The results highlight the role of resources and comparisons in promoting people’s wellbeing, and suggest that self-enhancing comparisons function as cognitive coping mechanisms when psychological resources are low.

Ups and downs on the roller coaster of task conflict: the role of group cognitive complexity, collective emotional intelligence and team creativity

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-37
Author(s):  
Andreea Gheorghe ◽  
Oana Fodor ◽  
Anișoara Pavelea
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Cognitive Complexity ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Task Conflict ◽  
Team Creativity ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Explanatory Mechanism ◽  
The Relationship

This study explores the association between task conflict and team creativity and the role of group cognitive complexity (GCC) as a potential explanatory mechanism in a sample of 159 students organized in 49 groups. Moreover, we analyzed the moderating effect of collective emotional intelligence (CEI)in the relationship between task conflict and GCC.As hypothesized, we found that task conflict has a nonlinear relationship with GCC, but contrary to our expectations, it follows a U-shaped association, not an inversed U-shape. In addition,the moderating role of CEI was significant only at low levels. Contrary to our expectation, the mediating role of GCC did not receive empirical support. Theoretical and practical contributions are discussed.

Measuring Access of Microfinance on Poverty in India: Towards a Comprehensive Index

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arindam Laha ◽  
Pravat Kumar Kuri
Keyword(s):  
Tamil Nadu ◽  
Andhra Pradesh ◽  
Composite Index ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Comprehensive Index ◽  
Poor Households ◽  
Cross Country ◽  
Economic Well Being

The outreach of micro-finance programme is considered to be a means enhance the economic well-being among the member means to enhance households through poverty alleviation. A wide cross-country variation in the outreach of micro-finance programme to the poor households is observed in the world. Despite the significant growth of micro-finance institutions and its active borrowers, the penetration of micro-finance lending services to the poor households in India is observed to be limited. In addition, there is a wide inter-state disparity in the achievement of micro-finance outreach in India especially among the poor households. A composite index has been constructed using the penetration, availability and usage indicators of micro-finance outreach to examine the interstate variations in the level of its achievement. Subsequently, attempt has been made to analyse the role of micro-finance in alleviating poverty across the states of India. The result shows that out of 27 states and Union Territories, only in seven states (Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, and Karnataka) outreach of micro-finance programme has made a significant impact on the reduction of poverty.

The Fox Diet

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yochai Benkler ◽  
Robert Faris ◽  
Hal Roberts
Keyword(s):  
First Year ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Justice Department ◽  
Fox News ◽  
The Core ◽  
Deep State ◽  
Media Ecosystem ◽  
Conservative Media ◽  
The Right

This chapter focuses on the role of the dominant player in conservative media, Fox News, during the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency. It looks at three case studies to illustrate how Fox News used its position at the core of the right-wing media ecosystem repeatedly to mount propaganda attacks in support of Trump: the Michael Flynn firing in March 2017, when Fox adopted the “deep state” framing of the entire controversy; the James Comey firing and Robert Mueller appointment in May 2017; when Fox propagated the Seth Rich murder conspiracy; and in October and November, when the arrests of Paul Manafort and guilty plea of Flynn seemed to mark a new level of threat to the president, Fox reframed the Uranium One story as an attack on the integrity of the FBI and Justice Department officials in charge of the investigation.

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